Daniel Dae Kim Speaks Leaving ‘HAWAII FIVE-0’

July 5, 2017

Daniel Dae Kim has officially spoken for the first time since the announcement of his exit from CBS”s HAWAII FIVE-0. The Asian-American actor wrote a post to his fans on Facebook and revealed that he was unable to reach an agreement with the network on a new contract and that’s why he left ahead of the eight season.

“By now many of you have heard the news, and I’m say to say it is true. I will not be returning to HAWAII FIVE-0 when production starts next week. Though I made myself available to come back, CBS and I weren’t able to agree to terms on a new contract, so I made the difficult choice not to continue.”

In the post, Kim also addresses the diversity problems in Hollywood, particularly for Asian American actors.

“As an Asian American actor, I know first-hand how difficult it is to find opportunities at all, let alone a well developed, three dimensional character like Chin Ho. I will miss him sincerely. What made him even more special is that he was a representative of a place my family and I so dearly love. It has been nothing short of an honor to be able to showcase the beauty and people of Hawaii every week, and I couldn’t be prouder to call these islands home. To my local community, mahalo nui loa.”

Kim and his costar Grace Park announced last week that they would not return over salary issues.